Friday, February 11, 2011

Volunteers needed for a Boston-based study!

If you are able to get to Boston, please consider volunteering for a study:

The Speech Communication Group of Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is looking for a volunteers who stutter to particpate in an NIH-funded research on persistent developmental stuttering.

Inclusion criteria (apply to all):

1) You have persistent developmental stuttering (also known as stammering).
2) Age between 18 and 50.
3) No history of speech or language disorders, apart from stuttering.
4) No history of hearing disorders.
5) No history of neurological or movement disorders.
6) Speaks North American English as the first (native) language. First langauge refers to the language in which your parents spoke to you when you first started speaking as a child.7) Not currently taking any medication that may affect speech
8) Have NOT previously participated in any studies conducted at Speech Communication Group at Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT.
9) IMPORTANT: The participant should be compatible with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). For details, see the webpage at: http://web.mit.edu/mitmri/MRsafety.htm#Screening

The study will be completed in 2 - 4 experimental sessions. One of the sessions will take place in Martinos Imaging Center in Building 46 of MIT. The other sessions will take place in Building 36 of MIT.

The speech of the participant will be examined by a certified speech-language pathologist during one of the sessions to verify and characterize the participant's stuttering.

In the imaging session, we will acquire structural and functional images of the participant's brain. This session will last about 50 - 70 minutes.

In the behavioral experiment, which will be carried out in MIT Building 36, the participant will be asked to read aloud various speech materials such as words, sentences and paragraphs, and to speak spontaneously on a given topic.

In one of the these sessions, we will use a magnetic device (Northern Digital WAVE system: http://www.ndigital.com/lifesciences/products-speechresearch.php) to record movement patterns of the participant's speech articulators. This technique is non-invasive and not painful, but it requires temporarily attaching small sensors to the subject's head, lips, jaw and tongue.

Each of these behavioral sessions will last approximately 2 hours.

The compensation will be $50 per hour for the initial screening interview one of the behavioral sessions, $75 per hour for the MRI session, and $100 per hour the WAVE articulometric session (sensors attached to the articulators).